Employment relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Employment relations - Essay Example The inequalities in society normally fall under the above mentioned heads (Andrews, 2007, Livesey, 2006). Discrimination of employees or inequalities of employees means treating an employee different from others. This is a very serious offence and is illegal for companies to treat employees differently. A company can be faced with a lot of legal issues and employees have the rights to even sue the company (Epstein, 1995). The next section focuses on the different basis of inequalities among employees at work places. Explanations of the causes for these issues are also discussed. Direct Discrimination: This type of discrimination refers to when employees discriminate among employees because of their sex, martial status or because of gender reassignment. This type of discrimination does not have a strong basis and employers tend to discriminate for reasons that are unlawful and invalid (Direct Gov, 2008). Indirect Discrimination: This type of discrimination is when employers put down certain invalid reasons to build certain working practices or rules within an organization. Rules such as fixing a minimum height which might discriminate against most women or even cases where employers refuse to employ part time workers for no valid reason (Direct Gov, 2008). Harassment: This is a very common sight in a lot of offices. This however is now being taken very seriously and laws relating to this have been tightened over the past few years. In this kind of discrimination the employees face offensive behaviour from employers or others within the organization. There can be passing of sexual remarks or gestures, or allowing of sexually explicit material to be displayed or distributed within the organization. Some employees also face the issue of being offensively nick named because of gender (Direct Gov, 2008). Victimization: This form of discrimination is seen in many offices when an employee has had the courage to